Weather

Parts of Siberia are Colder Than Minus 60 Degrees Fahrenheit, and It's Only November

By Brian Donegan

November 29 2017 02:30 PM EDT

weather.com

As mild temperatures encompass a large swath of the contiguous United States this week, parts of Siberia are experiencing temperatures colder than minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit – and it's only November.

A low temperature of minus 69 degrees was recorded early Tuesday in Delyankir, Russia. This is colder than the all-time record lows in every U.S. state except Utah (-69 degrees), Montana (-70 degrees) and Alaska (-80 degrees).

If that wasn't incredible enough, the daytime high in Delyankir Tuesday failed to rise above -60 degrees.

According to Weather Underground's Christopher Burt, unofficial temperatures as cold as minus 108 degrees have been measured in Oymyakon. There is also no record of temperatures rising above zero degrees between Dec. 1 and March 1, Burt added.

Even Alaska's coldest interior valleys may only suffer through temperatures in the minus 40s or colder for a week or two before there's a "warmer" break. There's no such luck in a Siberian winter.

Why is it so cold for such an extended period of time in Oymyakon?

River valley: Cold air is denser and, therefore, settles into the lower elevations at night.

Surrounded by mountains: Cold air drains down the slopes of the mountains and is trapped in the valley. The mountains form a U-shape, with the open side of the letter "U" pointed north.

Far northern latitude: At roughly 63 degrees north latitude, there are only about 3 hours of sunshine around the winter solstice.

Persistent snow cover: While precipitation is generally light in the moisture-starved frigid-cold air mass, what snow does fall stays put, reflecting the sun's limited energy.

Ironically, the name "Oymyakon" in the native Siberian tongue means "unfrozen patch of water," named for the thermal hot spring nearby.

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